The Dictator's Diary
by SolunaFate37
Summary: A certain Game Sage grows too curious about a certain warlock's grimoire and is enticed to read it, unaware of its contents.


"Xyst, are you here?" A voice echoed from the lower levels of the Eden Glen. A figure sitting near the energy field looked off the cliff towards the entrance of the Glen, saw trees blocking his vision, and then returned his attention to the grimoire he was reading, titled _Dictator's Diary_. The feminine voice called his name again, but this time, he didn't even bother to look up. He decided to continue his reading instead. A few minutes later, however, a distraction in the sound of hooves coming up to him from behind pulled his attention yet again. He sighed as he closed the book gently with his hand inside holding his position, and glanced up behind him.

And flinched to see Game Sage MeruMeru glaring down at him. "You could have at least said something, Xysticion; I was looking for you."

Xysticion rolled his eyes as he averted eye contact. "I didn't hear you. I'm busy reading something."

"Would it kill you to glance at zone chat?" Meru chastised.

Xysticion shrugged. "No, but you don't know, sitting this close to a cliff; I could come close…"

"…What?"

"Anyways," Xysticion sneered, "would you like to read?" He held up the blood red Diary before MeruMeru.

MeruMeru eyed it cautiously. "Wh-what's the book about?"

Xysticion's sneer grew wider, effectively raising MeruMeru's already high apprehension. "Oh, nothing _too_ catastrophic, just a diary kept by the Mayor of the Golden City before he went in his coma."

MeruMeru wasn't convinced. "Then why are _you _reading it? And what's in there that has you smiling so hard?"

MeruMeru's Driven Snow Colt even started to back up at Xysticion's dark smile. "Why don't you read and see for yourself." Replacing his hand with a bookmark, he closed the grimoire and lifted it to her again.

"It's okay, Epona, he won't hurt us," MeruMeru tried whispering into her colt's ears to calm her. "…I hope. A-anyways, no, Xyst, I'm okay, than-"

She squealed in surprise as something grabbed her from behind, lifting her clear off her mount. Her colt turned around to look as well, but didn't seem too perturbed by whatever was holding her; it glanced at her assailant as if it was something it saw every day.

MeruMeru was set down a few seconds later right next to Xysticion, and it let her go. She finally turned around to see what had grabbed her.

It was Xysticion's behelder, all thirty-seven eyes trained on MeruMeru as it spun lazily in place. She felt something heavy land in her lap. Sighing, she turned back around and picked up what she knew was the _Dictator's Diary_.

She looked into Xysticion's expectant face, and uttered only a single word. "Sneaky."

Xysticion roared in laughter that could very well fit a dictator himself. Ignoring him, MeruMeru sheepishly opened the front cover. The first entry seemed to have been from fifteen years ago.

_May 7__th__, 1997_

_I've been appointed the Mayor of the Golden City. I decided to keep this diary of my life as mayor, in case hundreds of years later, they find this diary; I could help the historians this way by documenting what will be their history of this city. Well, other than me being elected, nothing of major interest happened today: just the usual victory ball and my new house being shown to me. A few months back, in the cold night of November 28th, Father was assassinated by the gang to the southwest of the Plains (they call themselves the Wolfeye). Their main force was led by who they called their number one adviser, a big man named Hans. They said it was their way of 'giving thanks' to the town. I hid in Aven since then to thwart pursuit, but it seems they've calmed down for now. The house was reconstructed and fixed after the violent attack. I should be beginning to move back tomorrow._

MeruMeru looked up. "Wow, this isn't nearly as bad as you were making it sound. I want to see more!"

Xysticion lifted his hand, a silent invitation for her to continue.

Xysticion sat for a while, watching MeruMeru continue through the _Dictator's Diary_. She seemed to be enjoying herself, now that she wasn't imagining what was in the book, and was actually reading it for herself. His behelder stiffened for a moment, and rose up to look at the entrance to the Glen. After a moment, it made a sign with two of its tentacles, shaping it into a heart – its sign for Kayla, his personal healer and couple. Xysticion relaxed and went back to reading over MeruMeru's shoulder.

_July 12__th__, 1997_

_I've just started to get used to living here again. I was only in Aven for a few months, but it seems I already forgot about life in this city here. And now a woman is apparently moving in as my next-door neighbor. I haven't seen her yet, since I didn't get the chance to leave the office today, but they say she's moving in from the southern end of town. Reports have been coming in about her like wildfire; some about her appearance, some about her past, and a lot of other insignificant details. The biggest thing that occurred to me, is why I'm getting all these reports. I didn't ask for them… Oh well. Guess I'll ask around tomorrow morning._

_July 14__th__, 1997_

_The woman was finally situated in next door, and I found out why I was getting all these reports of her. She applied to be my secretary; I got the official report this morning. It apparently took longer than usual to move her in, and they were making sure she was fully comfortable, before they bothered to send me the report. I wasn't told until a few hours ago that she was 8 months pregnant, which explained everyone's focus on her; she couldn't do most things on her own, and so needed extra assistance. That's good that they thought to do that, but they could have at least told me why everyone in the office more or less left to help…_

_The woman's name is Dana, 24 years of age, husband was a carpenter, but was killed by Hans' attack on the city that also claimed my father. Blonde hair, hazel-red eyes, pleasant personality. Small wonder everyone left to see her; she's a widow, and with her appearance and bearing, she was a miniature celebrity. At least, that was what I thought. There's a rumor going around that she actually is a descendant of a queen from the isle to the northwest, but no one can be certain. I suppose I will go visit her tomorrow._

MeruMeru looked up from the book again. "This is pretty addicting… But wow, Dana's a princess?"

Xysticion rolled his eyes. "The world will never know. After all, it _was _just a rumor."

_July 15__th__, 1997_

_Dana is absolutely gorgeous. She and I talked for awhile today. We talked about many things, such as her resume for her application to be my secretary, what she does, her skills, and… that night. We ended up spending the whole day together, and I enjoyed it very much. She and I have much in common: similar personality, we both lost important people to us during that raid back in November, and many other things. I've decided that I'll have Dana as my secretary; from my talk with her, I believe she will do wonderfully. She's also a very easy person to get along with. I hope she works well._

_She also mentioned she can be a mystic; she has a crystal ball that she sometimes uses for divination. Once she brought out her crystal ball to show me, I noticed her fashion bracelet on her right hand twitching eerily too, like it was reacting to something. She laughed and told me not to worry, that that was normal. Then she showed off, saying that against all odds, it would rain all day on the seventeenth, the day after tomorrow, even though the forecast claimed it shouldn't rain until the night of the eighteenth. Guess we'll just have to wait and see._

A sneeze behind them made the two of them jump hard; Kayla had snuck up behind them and was reading over Meru's other shoulder. "Good lord, Kayla, don't _do _that!"

"I'm sorry," Kayla blurted out quickly, as MeruMeru started laughing. "You two were just so interested in the book, so I didn't want to disturb you. But then I got curious, so I wanted to read along."

"You _sure_ you want to do that?" Xysticion asked.

"Um… yes?"

"Because this is where stuff starts to get… 'Interesting'."

"Interesting how?" Kayla seemed to be getting wary now. "And your face is scaring me right now…"

"Let's just say… the Mayor wasn't exactly the most… benevolent, of people." Xysticion flipped through most of the book, back to his bookmark. MeruMeru and Kayla, both rather apprehensive, read over his shoulder.

_August 23__rd__, 2007_

_It's our daughter Alice's tenth birthday. Alice has started her rebellious stage, I think; she's now dying her hair different colors and cosplaying every other day. She asked me to buy some outfits for her today. Some of her favorites, she told me, are: a blonde woman who dual wielded guns; a green-haired 'immortal witch' who granted onto others the power of a King; a purple-haired woman who could summon any number of classroom utensils from her sleeves as weapons; and a wintry blue girl in a kimono very reminiscent of an old Eastern legend. She said the first woman was from some abyssal tale, the second was from a terrorist show (Who let her watch something like that? I need to have a talk with the household maids later…), the third was from a series of documentaries involving bizarre creatures and their ability to possess people, and the last was from a kid's show about a young human boy who commanded a horde of demons left behind by his grandfather, who himself was a demon. Children these days sure have interesting shows on television and books…_

_But at least she's unaware of what I did to her mother. She still believes me when I tell her Dana went to a northern isle on a business trip for me. I wonder how long I can keep that up… And I may need to move Dana soon; Alice is becoming a little too curious about the lower levels of this building for my interest. She found her way into one of my studies, one of the rooms that are usually always locked, and I don't know how she did it. Of course, being the 10-year old little girl, she denies ever going in there, and honestly, who can blame her? I was a curious tyke at her age too._

Xysticion skipped a few pages. The smile on his face made MeruMeru and Kayla break out in a cold sweat. The behelder seemed to be watching something near the entrance to the town again.

_September 14__th__, 2007_

_Alice came home from school earlier than I had planned; she needed an instruction booklet for her last class that she forgot at home. She also forgot her Dream Key__,__ so she ended up sneaking into the house through the basement. She found Dana where I left her, held up by chains and gravely wounded. She even noticed Dana had-_

Someone slammed the diary audibly, causing the three of them to jump. Xysticion looked up. "Geez, Exia, you could have given me a heart attack there!"

Game Master Exia lifted the Diary and leafed through it while Xysticion's behelder circled around Exia like a satellite. "I had been trying to get Meru's attention for a while, but you apparently were distracting her again. And with this… Oh, good thing I stopped you when I did; you would have destroyed her innocence in another page or two. That's no fun."

Xysticion glanced behind him; MeruMeru and Kayla seemed to have fainted in sheer terror. "…I think, in another way, you _did _destroy their innocence... Besides, it's just a diary; what's the worst that could happen?"

Exia, who had been grumbling something to himself about warning the Arcanum Association about this book, turned back to Xysticion and raised an eyebrow. "You've read this, I'm sure. Some of this stuff could scar her for life. I kinda like Meru how she is now. You know, not traumatized by unnecessary details."

Xysticion shrugged. "Tch, almost had her… She's gonna get curious though, once she wakes up from your little scare."

A wave of silence passed. Even the wind had made itself scarce for a moment.

"So," Xysticion broke the silence, "what should we tell her?"

Exia held up a finger for emphasis. "It's a secret."

Xysticion threw a look of unamusement at Exia, who simply smiled back. The two then burst out laughing.

"By the way," Xysticion was holding his ribs while lying in a fetal position on the ground, and was trying to speak through his raucous laughter. "What was it you needed from Meru?"

"Oh, just simple GS stuff, nothing too big."

Xysticion smirked conspiratorially. "Think I could make a worthy substitute? As you can see, you kinda put her… out of commission."

Exia's smile widened, but he gave no answer.


End file.
